If you only take tequila in your margarita, it’s time to elevate your drinking game. Tiffany Hainesworth, founder and owner of T'Capri Tequila, is out to change our perceptions of this strong spirit. “My hashtag is you can sip with us,” she declares. “You don't need to mix it in a cocktail. And you don't need to chase it with lime and salt.”
T’Capri Tequila, which has been featured on FOXSoul’s Cocktails With Queens starring Claudia Jordan, LisaRaye McCoy, Vivica A. Fox and Syleena Johnson, is one of the cleanest and purest tequila brands on the market. “My tequila is certified additive-free,” Hainseworth says. “It’s made strictly from well water, 100 percent blue agave and fruit pectin from the trees on my distillery's estate. That was very important for me, to work with a distillery that did not add a lot of additives or preservatives and muddle the taste. It has a slight fruit flavor, which may taste a little like a pear. It’s a clean, beautiful tequila.”
As the first African American woman to solely own her own tequila brand, Hainesworth has spent the last decade perfecting this dream. She visited 12 distilleries in Jalisco, Mexico, before finding artisan tequila distillers, Tequila el Tepozan SA de CV, to deliver the purity and flavor profile she sought to create.
“I spent a lot of time in the agave fields because I wanted to learn how to make tequila literally from farm to table,” says Hainesworth. “The plants are harvested between seven to 10 years of maturity. They’re taken back on big truckloads to the distillery where they’re baked in a traditional brick oven.” An aroma fills the air as they bake, “like sweet potatoes,” she offers. “Once baked, my ‘Master Tequilero’ Carlos Padilla starts the fermentation process. Every tequila profile is different because the tequila master has to make that recipe.”
T’Capri is currently available in two flavors: T’Capri Tequila Blanco and T’Capri Tequila Reposado, which is aged for six months in American white oak barrels. Hainseworth, who actually has a certification in tequila, shares some important advice on how to serve your tequila, straight up, no chaser.
“I put my Blanco in a champagne flute,” she exclaims. “And for the Reposado, you use sipping glasses, the short stout ones that are wide at the bottom.”
While T’Capri is pure excellence on its own, you can also use it in your favorite cocktails. “I would definitely use T'Capri Reposado in an Old Fashioned,” Hainsworth shares. “Add in some fall flavors like fig and even pumpkin spice. We're working on that now.” She also revealed that she’s perfecting her Anejo tequila, which is aged in barrels for 18 months, for a launch date of Summer 2023.
